Hillary Clinton thinks that the Donald Trump campaign would have Alexander Hamilton “rolling in his grave.”
The former Secretary of State delivered that and other zingers during a speech on economic policy Tuesday in Ohio, taking particular exception to Trump’s musing last month that he could reduce the national debt by negotiating with creditors to take less than they are owed.
Clinton suggested that such loose talk about the American national debt could rattle global financial markets and reduce investor confidence in U.S. Treasuries as well as the dollar. “The American dollar is the safest currency on the planet,” Clinton said. “Why would he want to mess with that?”
She combined her attacks on Trump’s debt discourse with criticisms of Trump’s tax policies, which if implemented would run up the national debt by close to $10 trillion, according to the Tax Policy Center. Such a tax plan, combined with Trump’s speculation over using the threat of default to bring down the debt, is not sound fiscal policy ,according to Clinton. “We know what sound fiscal policy looks like and it’s not running up massive debts to pay for giveaways to the rich,” she said.
Clinton’s response to Trump’s comments came just hours after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen took exception to the same. The Fed Chief said in response to Senate Banking Committee Hearing on Trump’s comments that defaulting on American debt would “be long-run harmful to U.S. interests and at a minimum result in much higher borrowing costs for American households and businesses.”